CHEMICAL AND IONIC MECHANISMS IN SENSORY TRANSDUCTION

作为本项目资助重点的感觉受体 (i.e.,脊椎动物的视网膜和无脊椎动物的感光器，动脉 哺乳动物颈动脉体和默克尔细胞的化学感受器 哺乳动物皮肤的机械感受器装置）通常都被认为是 是“复合”受体，其中专门的感觉细胞是 最终驱动感觉神经纤维的传感器元件。 因此，这些受体系统中的感觉传导可以被定义为 由适当刺激引发的化学和离子事件的总和， 发生在感受器的感觉细胞/传入纤维复合体中。作为 这样，感觉传导涉及多个活性位点（膜 受体、离子通道、细胞酶等）连接以形成 细胞内和细胞间化学活性级联 信使（第二信使、递质、离子物质等）这 从而调节受体中的信号转导。 我们建议的计划项目补助金的目的是阐明 化学信使在转导，突触耦合， 以及在简单和复杂感觉处理单元内的调制。" 项目之间的多学科和协作方法将 用于阐明这些化学介质在 受体功能这六个项目包括三种基本类型， 感觉，即视觉、动脉化学感受和躯体感觉。 Drs. Lasater和Kolb以及Brown博士（项目#1和#2）将利用 电生理学、药理学和免疫细胞化学技术 研究神经递质和细胞内信使的作用 系统的转导和调制的视觉信号在 海龟视网膜和藤壶感光器，分别。在 哺乳动物颈动脉体化学感受器，涉及多个 在刺激中，假定的传递以及细胞内信使 转导、递质相互作用和感觉细胞偶联 （项目#3和#4），以及共同定位和活动 这些物质的概况（项目5）将包括 电生理、神经化学和免疫细胞化学研究 分别由Eyzaguirre、Fidone和Stensaas博士提出。最后， 使用这些相同的实验技术，Wei博士和English（Project #6）将研究假定的递质所起的生理作用 猫的触觉感受器（默克尔细胞“触觉感受器”）中的物质 皮肤

The sensory receptors that are the focus of this Program Project Grant (i.e., the vertebrate retina and invertebrate photoreceptor, the arterial chemoreceptors of the mammalian carotid body, and the Merkel cell mechanoreceptor apparatus of mammalian skin) are all generally considered to be 'composite' receptors, in which specialized sensory cells are the transducer elements that ultimately drive the sensory nerve fibers. Sensory transduction in these receptor systems can thus be defined as the sum of chemical and ionic events initiated by an adequate stimulus that occur in the sensory cell/afferent fiber complex of the receptor. As such, sensory transduction involves multiple activity sites (membrane receptors, ionic channels, cellular enzymes, etc.) linked to form a cascade of activity by intracellular and intercellular chemical messengers (second messengers, transmitters, ionic species, etc.) which thereby regulate signal transduction in the receptor. The objective of our proposed Program Project Grant is to elucidate the roles played by chemical messengers in transduction, synaptic coupling, and modulation within both simple and complex sensory processing "units." A multidisciplinary and collaborative approach amongst the projects will be utilized to elucidate the actions of these chemical mediators in receptor function. The six projects encompass three fundamental types of sensation, namely vision, arterial chemoreception and somatosensation. Drs. Lasater and Kolb, and Dr. Brown (Projects #1 and #2) will utilize electrophysiological, pharmacological and immunocytochemical techniques to investigate the role of neurotransmitters and intracellular messenger systems in the transduction and modulation of visual signals in the turtle retina and in the barnacle photoreceptor, respectively. In mammalian carotid body chemoreceptors, the involvement of multiple putative transmits as well as intracellular messengers in stimulus transduction, transmitter interactions and sensory cell coupling (Projects #3 and #4), as well as the co-localization and activity profiles of these substances (Project #5) will comprise the electrophysiological, neurochemical and immunocytochemical studies proposed by Drs. Eyzaguirre, Fidone and Stensaas, respectively. Finally, using these same experimental techniques, Drs. Wei and English (Project #6) will study the physiological role played by putative transmitter substances in touch receptors (Merkel cell 'touch domes') of the cat skin.